Director – Functional Lead - Global Functional Center of Excellence

At Bristol Myers Squibb, our employees often ask, “Who are you working for?”—a question that fuels collaboration, accountability, and urgency in our work. Our purpose-driven culture inspires us to discover, develop, and deliver innovative medicines to prevail over serious diseases. We offer uniquely interesting and meaningful work, opportunities for growth, and a supportive environment that values inclusion, wellbeing, flexibility, and comprehensive benefits. This is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it.

The Functional Lead provides strategic and functional leadership for the Global Trial Lead (GTL) organization across an assigned Therapeutic Area or TA cluster or Pillar. The role is accountable for building and sustaining GTL capability, leading talent and succession management, and aligning workforce capacity, skills, and deployment with evolving portfolio and study needs in partnership with Operational Program Leaders and other key stakeholders.

The Functional Lead strengthens organizational performance by fostering an engaged GTL/GTA community, providing functional coaching and guidance, and establishing consistent functional standards, playbooks, and ways of working across therapeutic areas and geographies. The role monitors functional performance and workforce trends, identifies systemic risks and capability gaps, and translates insights into targeted actions that improve quality, efficiency, and trial execution.

In addition, the Functional Lead provides strategic leadership for an enterprise-wide functional portfolio—such as Capability, Talent, Resource Management, Functional Excellence, Digital and Innovation, or Ways of Working—and contributes to the evolution of the GTL operating model. Acting as a change leader and functional subject matter expert, the role champions continuous improvement, digital and AI-enabled transformation, and cross-functional initiatives that strengthen the scalability, consistency, and long-term effectiveness of the GTL function.

Disclaimer: The responsibilities listed below are a summary; other responsibilities will be assigned as required.

Reporting Relationship

Reports to the Head of Global Trial Functional Center.

• Functional leadership scope: GTLs across the full career ladder – GTL, Senior GTL, Associate Director GTL and Director GTL.

• Operates through a defined decision-rights interface with OPLs (operational demand, priorities and study-performance feedback); TA Heads (TA context and strategy); Operational excellence process lead (process improvement); and any relevant Department or function Head or their representatives within and above GDO (streamline collaboration and ways of working)

• Partners with the GTL Resourcing Lead on demand–supply balancing and with enterprise functions on the assigned horizontal portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

1. Develop & Sustain GTL Capability (Competency, Upskilling, Career Paths)

-          Lead the development and execution of GTL capability strategies by driving competency assessments, identifying skill gaps, implementing targeted upskilling initiatives, and establishing standardized best practices that enhance individual and organizational performance.

-          Define and evolve the GTL career architecture by overseeing career pathways, mentoring programs, cross-TA development opportunities, and future-ready workforce strategies, including adaptation of roles, skills, and ways of working in response to AI and automation advancements.

2. Right GTL – Right Study: Workforce Planning & Capacity (with OPL)

• Collaborate with OPL Line Manager on GTL capacity planning, skill-to-study matching, workload balancing, deployment, and rebalancing across the assigned TA or TA cluster or Pillar and ensure alignment with portfolio priorities and demand.

• Drive continuous, forward-looking workforce planning by translating evolving portfolio demand and capacity forecasts into resource requirements, hiring plans, hub and location strategies, and future GTL capability requirements.

• Partner with OPLs to define annual core objectives for GTLs and enable their appropriate adaptation, ensuring they can be tailored to the priorities and operational requirements of individual trials.

3. Talent Management: Recruitment, Onboarding, Succession & Retention

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4. Build GTL/GTA Community & Knowledge Sharing

• Lead the development of an engaged GTL/GTA community by promoting continuous learning, providing functional coaching and guidance, addressing capability and resource challenges, and enabling strong partnership and feedback loops across operational and matrix leadership teams.

5. Drive Functional Standards & Continuous Improvement

-          Lead the development, implementation, and governance of GTL functional standards, playbooks, and ways of working across therapeutic areas and geographies. Drive harmonization of processes, facilitate the sharing of lessons learned and best practices, and ensure consistent adoption of standardized approaches that improve trial execution, reduce variability, and strengthen operational quality across the GTL organization.

-          Own functional performance oversight for assigned Pillar by establishing and monitoring key performance indicators, conducting trend analyses, identifying systemic barriers and organizational risks, and translating insights into targeted improvement initiatives. Partner with Operational Program Leaders (OPLs), GTL leadership, and cross-functional stakeholders to drive accountability, close feedback loops, and continuously enhance organizational effectiveness.

-          Provide strategic leadership for enterprise-wide functional portfolios, such as Talent, Capability, Functional Excellence, Resource Management, Digital & Innovation, or Ways of Working. Ensure alignment and consistency across TA or TA clusters or Pillar, lead cross-functional initiatives, and contribute to shaping future operating models, workforce strategies, and investment priorities that advance the GTL function globally.

Champion transformation, innovation, and organizational effectiveness by driving adoption of digital solutions, AI-enabled capabilities, and simplified ways of working. Serve as a functional SME and change leader for process improvement initiatives, support departmental budgeting and resource planning, and partner with the Functional Head to define, implement, and sustain Centers of Excellence that enhance capability, scalability, and long-term organizational performance.

Qualifications & Experience

Education/Experience/Licenses/Certifications

• BA/BS in a relevant discipline required; advanced degree in life sciences or healthcare preferred.

• 12+ years in pharmaceutical clinical development or clinical operations, including functional leadership of clinical trial professionals in a matrix environment; hands-on experience leading global trials strongly preferred. For expanded-scope assignments, experience influencing leaders and owning a function-wide or enterprise-level initiative is preferred.

• Demonstrated track record building capability systems at scale: competency frameworks, structured upskilling programs, succession planning and talent pipelines.

• Demonstrated Clinical Trial Delivery process improvement.

• Hands-on experience with workforce planning, capacity analytics and skill-based deployment models.

• Proven change leadership through organizational transformation, including hub build-up or operating-model transitions.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Ability to manage global teams through indirect leadership within a matrix organization.

• Fluency in the GTL role end-to-end and the clinical trial delivery ecosystem sufficient to assess capability credibly — without assuming delivery accountability.

• Data-driven decision making: comfort with workforce analytics, study-level KPI frameworks, dashboarding and trend interpretation; experience standing up or operating a Center of Excellence, PMO or equivalent enablement function is an asset.

• Digital and AI literacy sufficient to sponsor adoption within the function.

• Change agility: capable of thinking ahead and scanning environment for opportunities, and leading change management

• Ability to lead through influence across a matrix of OPLs, TA Heads and enterprise partners, holding role boundaries with clarity and tact.

• Proficient English language skills.

• Travel requirement: up to 20%.

We hire for skills and capabilities, not just credentials – if this role excites you, but doesn’t perfectly match your resume, we encourage you to apply anyway.

Madison - Giralda - NJ - US: $213,300 - $258,468
Princeton - NJ - US: $213,300 - $258,468 


The starting pay range(s) listed above is for full-time employees (FTE). You may also be eligible for additional discretionary incentive cash and stock opportunities. We determine starting pay thoughtfully – carefully considering the nature of the role, required skills, work location, schedule and the knowledge and experience you bring. Final compensation is guided by pay equity principles and applicable employment laws. Compensation programs are reviewed on an ongoing basis and may be adjusted over time to reflect evolving market factors, and individual, team or Company performance.

Benefits:

Subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable plans then in effect, you may be eligible to participate in our comprehensive benefit plans – including wellbeing support, retirement and financial protection benefits, and insurance offerings (medical, dental, vision, life and disability).

U.S.-based exempt employees are eligible for Flexible Time Off (FTO), which provides paid time off without a set accrual limit, subject to manager approval, along with 11 paid company holidays each year.

Non-exempt employees, RayzeBio employees, and employees located in Puerto Rico receive 160 hours of paid vacation annually for new hires (subject to manager approval), 11 paid company holidays, and 3 optional holidays.

Depending on eligibility, employees may also have access to additional time-off benefits, including paid sick leave, up to two paid volunteer days per year, summer hours flexibility, and leaves of absence for medical, personal, parental, caregiver, bereavement, or military needs. Eligible employees also enjoy an annual Global Shutdown between Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

U.S.-based job seekers can explore full benefit offerings athttps://careers.bms.com/benefits

How We Work

Where you work matters – because collaboration, innovation and patient impact happen in many settings. Our roles are structured across four work models: site-essential, site-by-design, field-based and remote-by-design. The model assigned to this role is based on its core responsibilities. Learn more at https://careers.bms.com/ways-of-working.

Supporting People with Disabilities

BMS is dedicated to ensuring that people with disabilities can excel through a transparent recruitment process, reasonable workplace accommodations/adjustments and ongoing support in their roles. Applicants can request a reasonable workplace accommodation/adjustment prior to accepting a job offer. If you require reasonable accommodations/adjustments in completing this application, or in any part of the recruitment process, direct your inquiries to [email protected]. Visit careers.bms.com/eeo-accessibility to access our complete Equal Employment Opportunity statement.

Candidate Rights

BMS will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, pursuant to applicable laws in your area.

For roles based in Los Angeles County only:  If you live in or expect to work from Los Angeles County if hired for this position, please visit this page for important additional information: https://careers.bms.com/california-residents/

For roles based in Washington State only: If you live in or expect to work from Washington State if hired for this position, please visit this page for important information about the Washington Fair Chance Act.

Data Protection

We will never request payments, financial information, or social security numbers during our application or recruitment process. Learn more about protecting yourself at https://careers.bms.com/fraud-protection.

Any data processed in connection with role applications will be treated in accordance with applicable data privacy policies and regulations.

If this posting is missing required information required by local law or incorrect, contact BMS at [email protected]with the Job Title and Requisition number. Do not send application-related inquiries to this email. To check your application status, please login to your Candidate Home Account.

R1608043 : Director, Functional Lead, Global Functional Center of Excellence